BUFALO, N.Y. — The Vancouver Canucks left the NHL draft with a skilled defenceman and a bushel of young talent but the search for scoring continues.
After picking Finnish defenceman Olli Juolevi fifth overall Friday night, the Canucks took five more players Saturday in U.S. under-18 winger William Lockwood (third round, 64th overall), Hamilton defenceman Cole Candella (fifth round, No. 140), Calgary winger Jakob Stukel (sixth round, No. 154), Portland centre Rodrigo Abols (seventh round, No. 184) and North Bay centre Brett McKenzie (seventh round, No. 194).
"It's a day of optimism and hope and we feel very comfortable with what we did today" said Trevor Linden, Vancouver's president of hockey operations. "We look forward to development camp and getting that process started."
The Canucks have more pressing concerns.
Linden says the opening of free agency will mark a hunt for offence.
"We want to address some scoring needs up front, for sure," he said. "We feel good about our goaltending and our defence. And we want to bring some scoring in. And we're going to try and address that July 1."
There is also the matter of tampering charges over GM Jim Benning's comments on a radio interview that he had talked to the Canadiens about P.K. Subban and planned to talk to the Tampa Bay Lightning about Steve Stamkos. Expressing interest publicly about players under contract to other teams is forbidden by the league.
Linden tried to downplay his GM's words, calling them "rather innocent comments." But he said they "probably crossed the line somewhat."
The club is waiting word back from the league.
Linden says the future is bright, noting Vancouver could have as many as 11 or 12 players under the age of 25 next season.
On Day 1, the Canucks took the first defenceman of the draft in the smooth-skating Juolevi from the London Knights.
Benning called the 18-year-old from Helsinki a "high hockey sense guy" with good defensive awareness who can move the puck up the ice
"In today's game that's a special skill and we just felt he's a complete defenceman," he added. "We just couldn't go by him ... We just felt to get a high-end defenceman is going to serve us well going forward."
The Canucks had Juolevi fifth on their list, he said.
The Finn is the first defenceman taken by the Canucks in the first round since 2005 when they chose Luc Bourdon 10th overall.
The six-foot-two 188-pound Juolevi is a graceful skater and puck-mover "with excellent poise and composure," according to NHL Central Scouting director Dan Marr.
Benning said the pace of the NHL game will not faze Juolevi because he reads the game so well. "He needs to get physically stronger though."
Going back to London would also serve him well, the GM said.
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